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NZ Metropolitan TC 14 May 2011 – R11

ID: JCA13357

Applicant:
A L Ray, Stipendiary Steward

Respondent(s):
R T May, Licensed Open Driver

Information Number:
69443

Hearing Type:
Hearing

Rules:
869 (3) (b)

Plea:
admitted

Meet Title:
NZ Metro TC - 14 May 2011

Meet Chair:
RMcKenzie

Meet Committee Member 1:
JPhelan

Race Date:
2011/05/14

Race Number:
R11

Decision:

The charge was found proved.

Penalty:

Mr May was fined the sum of $300.

 

Charge:

Careless Driving

Facts:

Following the running of Race 11, an information was filed by Stipendiary Steward, Mr A L Ray, against Licensed Open Horseman, Mr R T May, alleging a breach of Rule 869 (3) (b) in that Mr May, as the driver of VAN WASHING MAN in the race, “over the early stages of this event failed to pay due care and attention by allowing his runner to race up and onto the back of the galloping DUNARUNNER causing his own horse to break”.
 
Mr May was present at the hearing of the information and he indicated that he admitted the breach. The charge was found proved accordingly.
 
Rule 869 provides as follows: (3) No horseman in any race shall drive:-(b) carelessly.

Submissions for Decision:

Mr Ray showed head-on and side-on video replays of the first 200-300 metres of the race, a standing start event over a distance of 2600 metres. He pointed out the galloping DUNARUNNER (R J Butt), out wide on the track, gallop for some distance, just after the start of the race. Nearing the winning post, VAN WASHING MAN, driven by Mr May, was behind DUNARUNNER. It improved up behind the cart of DUNARUNNER and galloped as a result. He contended that Mr May had some distance in which to avoid DUNARUNNER. He had not helped himself by pulling the hopple shorteners at the stage he did. Mr May could have made a greater effort to avoid DUNARUNNER and hence the careless driving charge.
 
Mr May said that pulling the hopple shorteners was the mistake he made. He took his eyes off where he was going to pull the hopple shorteners. Mr Butt was attempting to get his horse out of the way. Mr May admitted that he should have been more careful. This had never happened to him before, he said. VAN WASHING MAN is a big horse, difficult to drive and with a “lot of issues”, Mr May said. He said that the incident was “pretty minor”. He had only caused interference to himself. He had made a “small mistake”. Most horses would not have galloped in the same circumstances, Mr May said. 
 

Submissions for Penalty:

Mr Ray referred to the Penalty Guide which recommended a starting point of a $400 fine and/or a 2 weeks’ suspension for a breach of the Rule. He acknowledged that DUNARUNNER had contributed to the incident. He submitted that the appropriate penalty was a fine of not less than $300.  Mr May’s record was a good one – he had not been charged under the Rule since July 2010 when he was fined $350. In the current season to date, Mr May has had 568 drives and in the 2009/2010 season he had 706 drives
 
Mr May did not wish to make any submissions to the Committee in relation to penalty.

 

Reasons for Penalty:

In arriving at penalty, the Committee took into account Mr May’s frank admission of the breach and his previous very good record. These were mitigating factors. The principal aggravating factor was that VAN WASHING MAN had broken and lost all chance in the race as a result of Mr May’s carelessness, thereby denying a return to punters who had supported it into 2/3 in the order of favouritism. The Committee accepted that such carelessness is totally out of character for Mr May, who is one of the country’s most experienced and capable horsemen, but it was more serious than “pretty minor” and was not just a “small mistake” as Mr May had submitted. The Committee viewed the offending as mid-range.

JCA Decision Fields (raw)

Dmitry: This section contains all JCA fields migrated from the raw data.

Data from these fields should be mapped appropriately to display amongst the standard fields above; please make note of any values below that are missing in the above standard fields but should be there.

hearingid: 67e638eee4881b997e1ef26fe5c4813a

informantnumber: 69443

horsename:

hearing_racingtype:

startdate: no date provided

newcharge:

plea: admitted

penaltyrequired: 1

decisiondate: 14/04/2011

hearing_title: NZ Metropolitan TC 14 May 2011 - R11

charge:

Careless Driving

facts:

Following the running of Race 11, an information was filed by Stipendiary Steward, Mr A L Ray, against Licensed Open Horseman, Mr R T May, alleging a breach of Rule 869 (3) (b) in that Mr May, as the driver of VAN WASHING MAN in the race, “over the early stages of this event failed to pay due care and attention by allowing his runner to race up and onto the back of the galloping DUNARUNNER causing his own horse to break”.
 
Mr May was present at the hearing of the information and he indicated that he admitted the breach. The charge was found proved accordingly.
 
Rule 869 provides as follows: (3) No horseman in any race shall drive:-(b) carelessly.

appealdecision:

isappeal:

submissionsfordecision:

Mr Ray showed head-on and side-on video replays of the first 200-300 metres of the race, a standing start event over a distance of 2600 metres. He pointed out the galloping DUNARUNNER (R J Butt), out wide on the track, gallop for some distance, just after the start of the race. Nearing the winning post, VAN WASHING MAN, driven by Mr May, was behind DUNARUNNER. It improved up behind the cart of DUNARUNNER and galloped as a result. He contended that Mr May had some distance in which to avoid DUNARUNNER. He had not helped himself by pulling the hopple shorteners at the stage he did. Mr May could have made a greater effort to avoid DUNARUNNER and hence the careless driving charge.
 
Mr May said that pulling the hopple shorteners was the mistake he made. He took his eyes off where he was going to pull the hopple shorteners. Mr Butt was attempting to get his horse out of the way. Mr May admitted that he should have been more careful. This had never happened to him before, he said. VAN WASHING MAN is a big horse, difficult to drive and with a “lot of issues”, Mr May said. He said that the incident was “pretty minor”. He had only caused interference to himself. He had made a “small mistake”. Most horses would not have galloped in the same circumstances, Mr May said. 
 

reasonsfordecision:

Decision:

The charge was found proved.

sumissionsforpenalty:

Mr Ray referred to the Penalty Guide which recommended a starting point of a $400 fine and/or a 2 weeks’ suspension for a breach of the Rule. He acknowledged that DUNARUNNER had contributed to the incident. He submitted that the appropriate penalty was a fine of not less than $300.  Mr May’s record was a good one – he had not been charged under the Rule since July 2010 when he was fined $350. In the current season to date, Mr May has had 568 drives and in the 2009/2010 season he had 706 drives
 
Mr May did not wish to make any submissions to the Committee in relation to penalty.

 

reasonsforpenalty:

In arriving at penalty, the Committee took into account Mr May’s frank admission of the breach and his previous very good record. These were mitigating factors. The principal aggravating factor was that VAN WASHING MAN had broken and lost all chance in the race as a result of Mr May’s carelessness, thereby denying a return to punters who had supported it into 2/3 in the order of favouritism. The Committee accepted that such carelessness is totally out of character for Mr May, who is one of the country’s most experienced and capable horsemen, but it was more serious than “pretty minor” and was not just a “small mistake” as Mr May had submitted. The Committee viewed the offending as mid-range.

penalty:

Mr May was fined the sum of $300.

 

hearing_type: Hearing

Rules: 869 (3) (b)

Informant: A L Ray, Stipendiary Steward

JockeysandTrainer: R T May, Licensed Open Driver

Otherperson:

PersonPresent:

Respondent:

StipendSteward:

raceid: 5fdf6c490a3b7ad71eb47ce4ed8f98d9

race_expapproval:

racecancelled: 0

race_noreport: 0

race_emailed1: 0

race_emailed2: 0

race_title: R11

submittochair:

race_expappcomment:

race_km:

race_otherexp:

race_chair:

race_pm1:

race_pm2:

meetid: fc7631d8356492e5f5da0215e73e2218

meet_expapproval:

meet_noreport: 0

waitingforpublication: 0

meet_emailed1: 0

meet_emailed2: 0

meetdate: 14/05/2011

meet_title: NZ Metro TC - 14 May 2011

meet_expappcomment:

meet_km:

meet_otherexp:

tracklocation: nz-metro-tc

meet_racingtype: harness-racing

meet_chair: RMcKenzie

meet_pm1: JPhelan

meet_pm2: none

name: NZ Metro TC